Apparatuses for producing plastic containers have been known from the prior art for quite some time. It is conventional to expand plastic preforms, usually made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET), into plastic containers within the context of a blow moulding process. To this end, the plastic preform is introduced into a blow mould and is expanded against an internal wall of the blow mould.
In some conventional processes, usually lateral sections or mould sections are closed around the preform and the blow mould is also closed towards the bottom by adding a bottom section. Subsequently, the application of pressurised air and in this way the expansion of the preform is commenced. In the prior art, various guide cams are usually used for the individual part movements, i.e., for moving the mould sections or for moving the bottom section. For this reason, such machines have at times four or more guide cams just for closing a respective blow mould. In addition, it is generally necessary to lock an already closed blow mould during the actual expansion process, and very frequently such locking mechanisms are very complex in design.
DE 10 2007 022 638 A1 describes an apparatus for blow moulding containers. In this apparatus, one of the mould carriers remains stationary and the other mould carrier is held in a pivotal manner by a support structure, and a bottom section is movably disposed relative to each of the two mould carriers, whilst the bottom section has a path of travel in relation to the mould carriers, which includes both a component extending in a longitudinal direction of the blow moulding station and a component extending transversely relative to the longitudinal direction. However, this procedure for moving the bottom section up to the blow mould is relatively complex.
From EP 1 789 247 B1, there is also known an apparatus for blow moulding containers, and here too both the mould carriers and the bottom section are arranged to be mechanically positioned and the mould carriers and the bottom section are permanently coupled to one another by means of a common mechanical drive unit.
DE 100 2711 A1 describes a blow mould and a method for closing this blow mould. Herein, two mould halves are pivotally connected to each other by a connection axis. A closure unit is provided in order to close the two mould halves.
US 2008/0254161 A1 describes a mould apparatus for producing thermoplastic containers. Here, a blow nozzle is provided which can move in an axial direction, and the blow mould is composed of two mould halves and is surrounded by a sloped rim. The blow nozzle itself has a corresponding surrounding element which locks the upper portion of the closed blow mould.
It may therefore be desirable to provide an apparatus for moulding plastic preforms into plastic containers, which has a simpler design compared to conventional apparatuses with respect to the handling thereof. In addition, it may be desirable to provide improved locking mechanisms for blow moulds in apparatuses for moulding plastic preforms into plastic containers.